Counting my blessings

Thanksgiving holiday is a time when memories abound as families gather to celebrate their blessings…

The aromas of pork loins, turkey with dressing, sweet potato pie and other favorite foods will fill each family kitchen. I count my many blessings and remember special times spent with family from days gone by.

A feeling of sadness covers me like a thin veil, I term this feeling the holiday blues. I know the symptoms well after many years of dealing with this problem. It appears to me everyone else seems happy wearing smiling faces. Am I the only one feeling blue at a time we are supposed to count our blessings and be happy? I have the feeling I’m not alone with these feelings when holidays roll around.

I’ve read that it is common feeling shared by women and men alike at holiday time.

However, I think it is mainly a “woman thing” as we get caught up in all the things that must be done to make a celebration. I’m sure men also have unfulfilled expectations for holidays that trigger the blues.

I need only to remind myself the many events out of my control that I cannot change, like the loss of loved ones, a family member fighting illness or family divided by circumstances those uncontrollable things bring on the holiday blues.

Having said all that I manage to chase the blues by counting my blessings and remembering the good times from days long ago when I helped grandma prepare for the holiday meal.

I can hear her as clearly today as when she reminded me that, “hard work never killed anybody, and I’d heap rather work then to starve” were her words.

If I’m having a pity party or feeling sorry for myself all I need to do is recall the image of grandma with a bandana tied around her head, her work apron on a hatchet in her hand on her way out back to chop the head of a fattened hen to make her Thanksgiving meal.

Grandma considered her table plain, and termed her meals as “nothing fancy, but fit to eat.” As I think back to all her hard work everything made from scratch her meals were far from being plain. I believe my blues are a reminder to CELEBRATE LIFE…to help me to remember the bounty of love freely bestowed on me by my parents and grandparents..

Allow me to remind you that memories grow dimmer unless we care enough to keep special people and time alive. So this Thanksgiving do as I do, count your blessing it helps to lift the spirit and keep those no longer here with us close to our hearts.